Finance Minister Makes It Clear It's "External Debt, Not Sanctions,"
Alex Tawanda Magaisa, a law lecturer in the United Kingdom has said that a letter of request for financial assistance by Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube indicates that Zimbabwe is ineligible to get loans from international financial institutions because of its external debt and not sanctions.
Magaisa’s remarks come when the ruling party in the country, ZANU PF has always claimed that sanctions imposed on the country by the United States and her allies on the turn of the millennium resulted in dwindling lines of credit for the country.
In his Big Saturday Read, Magaisa who is also a former advisor to Zimbabwe’s late former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said:
But more significantly, he confirms that Zimbabwe’s exclusion from debt relief that has been offered to other Low-Income Countries (LICs) so far is not because of sanctions but its arrears status. “Despite its needs and low-income country status, Zimbabwe is not eligible to benefit from these initiatives because of its official external debt arrears,” admits the Minister.
Ncube, in his letter to the International Monetary Fund, asked for financial assistance saying that
He also promised that the country would also embark on a raft of reforms.
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